Fuel-transfer mechanism for stokers.



N. E. EEE.

FUEL YRANS'FER MECHANLSM FOR STOKERS.

- APPLICATION FILED 05129, |913.

- I ,276,642., Patented Aug. 20, 191g 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

''a @Houma WMI/venom NA E. GEE.

FUEL TRANSFER MECHANISM FUR STOKERS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.29, i913.

atented Aug. 20, 1918,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

sin l attorney,

N. E. GEIE.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FUEL TRANSFER MECRRNISM FoR sToRERs.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.29. 1913. 1,276,642.,

I I I I I I l I I l I I `I I required functions in ATEN'I FFICE.

NORMAN E. GEIE, 0F ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FUEL-TRANSFER MECHAN ISM FOR STO-KEES.

Application led December 29. 1913.

To (/ZZ l11i/tom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN E. GEB. a citizen of the United States.residing at Altoona, in the county of Blair' and State of Pennsylvania.have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fuel-TransferMechanism for Stokers, of which the following is a specification. y

his invention relates to stoking apparatus for locomotive engines. andhas special reference to a novel fuel transfer mechanism therefor.

Heretofore various expedients have been employed in stoking mechanismsto transfer the fuel from the tender magazine to the point fordischarging into the fire box of a locomotive. but not with entirelysatisfactor)7 results, because of the exacting conditions imposedthereon wlien operating under service conditions which require anuninterrupted and positive advancing of definite quantities of the fuelat all times and regardless of the condition of the fuel as deliveredfrom the tender into the convever. Efforts have been made to meet allthese various conditions with run of the mine coal through the use ofthe old reciprocating type of conveyer having pivoted. featlieringblades. This type of conveyer, however. has proved objectionable instoking mechanisms, particularlyr when of a construction involving aplurality of pivotal blades or fingers on the same supporting bar orshaft, because of the 'fact of lumps of coal wedging between thecomparatively narrow fingers and blades, and at times wedging in such amanner as to severely buckle or bend said blades thereby destroyingtheir utility.

It is. therefore, one of the primary purposes of the present invent-ionto so improve the old reciprocating type of conveyer as to render thesame particularly available for use in stoking mechanisms to carry outthe connection with run of the mine coal. and to insure the advancing ofthe fuel in definite quantities from the conveyer trough, regardless ofthe char acter or position of lumps that. may have been admitted intothe conveyer trough.

Another objecty of the invention is to provide certain novelimprovements in an elevating convever section and its relation toSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918. Serial No. 809,349.

the main conveyer to provide for the proper elevation of the fuel belowthe deck plate to a point where it will be deposited for distributioninto the fire box of the locomotive.

Other important objects are involved which will be apparentto thosefamiliar with this special art as the nature of the invention is betterunderstood, and the same consists in the novel construction, combinationand arrangen'ient of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustratedand claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is disclosed inthe accompanying drawings in which- Figure l is a side elevation of myimproved transfer mechanism showing the conveyer actuating mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of my improved transfermechanism.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the elevated section ot' the conveyer and aportion of the elevating chute.

ig. el is a transverse sectional vie-w of the main conveyer chuteshowing in elevation one of the fuel advancing units.

Fig. 5 is a detail longitudinal sectional view of the conveyer chuteshowing the construction and operation of the blades comprising the fueladvancing units.

F ig. 6 is a detail plan view of one of the fuel advancing blades.

Fig. 't' is a similar View of the follower guard blade.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several ligures of the drawings.

In the embodiment disclosed in the drawings, a conveyer chute designatedin its entirety b v the reference character C is shown as being incommunication with the magazine of the fuel tender T at a point wherethe fuel crusher A, such as that disclosed in my pending applicationSerial No. 805,575, tiled December 9, 1913, is suspended entirely withinthe gravity discharge opening in the bottom of the magazine, while theopposite end is in communication with the fire box F of a locomotive L.

The conveyer chtite C essentially coniprises two sections, namely asubstantially horizontal main advancing chute l arranged beneath thetender and deck plate and an elevating chute 2, the latter being fixedto the locomotive while the former has a supporting connection as at 3with the crusher A. The said Crusher A is suspended within the gravitydischarge opening of the fuel magazine in such a manner that it iscapable of movement in all directions in the same horizontal plane, asfully disclosed in my former application hereinbcfore mentioned, inorder to permit the chute to accommodate itself to the movement of theengine and tender.

The main advancing chute 1 comprises in its construction the sidemembers le and the bottom plate 5 which are connected by means of theangular reinforcing rods 6. and also includes the longitudinallyarranged bearing bars T outer faces the angular side bars 8. Thisparticular arrangement of the bearing bals T and the side bars 8 on eachside of the chute provides a guideway 9, the purposes of which willhereinafter more fully appear.

The elevating chute 2 which is almost wholly carried by the locomotiveincludes in its organization a base casting 10 which connects with themain advancing chute 1 at one end below the. deck plate and is providedat its other end with a distributing table 11 which projects into thefire box of they locomotive, while its intermediate portion is providedwith a plurality of transversely arranged check ledges 12 which tend toprevent retrograde movement of the coal during the stoking operation.The side walls 13 are suitably secured to the base casting 10 and areprovided with the guide channels lt which are designed to receiveportions of one of the conveyer sections. as will hereinafter more fullyappear. The said elevating chute 2 is further provided with a coverplate 15 which may be removed to render the conveyer parts quicklyaccessible and expose them to view as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The conveyor mechanism as a whole comprises two or more sections, namelya main advancing conveyer designated in its cntirely by the referencecharacter 16 which operates in the chute 1 and feeds fuel in asubstantially horizontal plane. and an elevating conveycr sectiondesignated in its entirety by the reference numeral 1T which is disposedat an angle to the main advancing eonveyer and operatively arranged inthe elevating chute 2 so as to elevate fuel onto the table 11, fromwhence it is thrown to selected parts of the fire box by the dischargingdevice D. The said elevating conveyer 1T is suitably connected toV acrosshead 18 which is arranged to reciprocate in the conveyer chute 1and provided at its outer extremities with pivotal connections 19 to thcoperating arms 2O which are in turn pivotally connected as at 21 to theenwhich have connected to theirv gine actuated lever arm 22. For thepurpose of connecting the conveyer sections 16 and 1T there is provideda coupling yoke 23 which is in the nature of a casting having at one endintegral attaching flanges 2l. which are adapted to receive therebetweenthe cross head 18, which is pivotally connected thereto by means of thepivot pin 25. The other end of the coupling yoke is provided withrearwardly extending attaching arms 2G which are bolted or otherwisesecured to the main eonveyer frame bars 2T which are pref,- erably twoin number as clearly shown in the drawings and arranged to slide withinthe guideway 9 formed in the conveycr chute 1.

lith reference to the conveyer frame bars 2S of the elevating conveyer1T, it will be observed that the same are pivotally connected by meansof the pivot pin 29 which is provided with the extended end portions 30which are so arranged that they slide within the guideway 1st in each ofthe. side plates 13 of the elevating chute 2. In order to support andguide the extreme ends of the bars 28 which are nearest the locomotivelire box, the same are connected with a pivot pin 31 which is similar inconstruction to the pin 29. As previously stated, the end of the bars 28adjacent the cross-head 1S are connected as at 32 to portions of thecrosshead provided for that purpose. Therefore, it may be noted at thispoint that the elevating conveyer 1T comprises two pivotally joinedsections which are connected to the reciprocating cross-head 18. so thatwhen the latter is in operation the elevating conveyer 1T will have afree reciprocating movement in the guide slots 1i of the elevating chute2. It may also be noted in this connection that the reciprocatingmovement of the cross-head 1S will be imparted to the conveyer framebars 2T of the main advancing conveyer 16, because of their connectionwith the coupling yoke 23 which is pivotally connected as at 25 to thecross-head. In other words, the reciprocation of the cross-head 18 willcause a corresponding movement of both conveyer sections 16 and 1T, theformer in the guideway 9 of the main advancing chute 1 and the latter inthe guide channels li of the ele-vating chute 2.

Transversely arranged between each of the conveyer frame bars 2T, andeach of the bars 28 are a plurality of pivot bars 33 upon which arepivotally mounted the fuel advancing units B. Each of the said fueladvancing units B essentially comprises a main advancing blade 34 whichis preferably co-extensive with the width of the conveyor chute andprovided with the pivot arms 35 which fitv over the pivot bars 33. Thisconstruction of the main advancing blades 31 provides a central cut awayportion 36 which leaves the central portion of the bar 33 exposed. Uponthis exposed portion of than the main advancing the bar 33 is mounted afollower guard blade 37 in a manner similar to the mounting of the mainadvancing blade 34, and so that the front face of the blade 37 will lieclose against the rear face of the blade 3l when both are suspended fromthe same pivot bar. As will be observed in the drawings, the followerblade 37 is preferably of less width plate 3l, and is withv a centralreprovided on its rear side inforcing rib 38 which terminates at itsupper portion in an abutment 39. This construction is also common to theblade 34:, and for the purpose of obtaining an advancing effect from theIblades, upon the forward movement of the conveyer frame there isprovided adjacent each pivotbar 33 a transversely arranged stop bar l()which is preferably angular in cross-section and arranged to engage theabutment 39 of both the blades 34 and 37 to prevent them swing'- ing toofar backward.

As clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the forward movement of themain conveyer 16, and the elevating conveyer 17, both of which haveadvancing units of the same construction, will push the fuel fed intothe conveyer chute from the magazine forward in the chutes 1 and 2, andupon the backward movement of the conveyer all of the fuel advancingunits B will trail over the fuel and leave what they have broughtforward farther advanced in the entire chute C However, it may happenthat a lump of coal will slip into the conveyer chute and be pushed intosuch a position that the main advancing blade 34 in its backwardmovement will not be drawn back far enough to completely be pulled ofl"of the lump. If this should be the case, as shown in Fig. 5, the nextforward movement of the blade 34, would be ineffective as far asadvancing the fuel was concerned, because the said blade 31 would merelyslide over the lump and not engage any fuel in t-he bottom of the chute.However, the provision of the follower blade 37 makes it impossible forthe forward movement of the blade 34 to be useless, since it canmaintain its normal position and upon the forward. movement of theconveyer push the lump from under the blade 3l and at the same timeadvance what fuel may be in front thereof. As stated, where only oneblade is employed, it often happens that a lump such as shown in Fig. 5will get into a position where the main blade will simply slide back andforth over the same, wit-hout advancing the lump, whereas when afollower blade is employed in connection with the main blade, this willnot happen. It. will be noted that the beveled ends of the two bladestogether present a. saw-tooth edge. lAccordingly when both of the blades34 and 37 are held lifted by a lump of unusual size, the continuousreciprocation of the conveyer causes the sharp or beveled ends of theblades to chop into and break away the lump. In this operation, thetrailer or follower blade 37 naturally falls to its upright position inadvance of the blade 34, and finally displaces the lump from beneath thesaid blade 34. In this connection, however, it will be understood thatabody of fuel to a considerable depth is maintained in the conveyerboxing l, and thc pointed ends of the blades 3l and 37 will have aplunging effect into this-body of fuel when they are llifted up fromtheir upright positions, thus causing the chopping down of lumps in themanner referred to. This construction makes it impossible for theconveyer to vhave any idle or false movement, in other words everyforward movement of the conveyer is sure to advance fuel, thus insuringa positive and accurate fuel supply which is essential to an automaticstoker not only to simulate as closely as possible the accuracy of handring, but to save power.

From the foregoing description it is thought that the many features andadvantages of the. present construction will be readily understoodwithout further` comment, and it. will of course be understood, thatvarious details of construction may be resorted to without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appendedclaims.

claim:

1. A. stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a mainconveyer chute, an elevating chute arranged at an angle thereto, arectilinearly reciprocating conveyer in said main chute, an elevatingconveyer connected to said first mentioned conveyer and reciprocating'in said angularly disposed elevating chute, and fuel advancing bladespivotally carried by said conveyers.

Q. A stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a mainconveyer chute disposed in a substantially horizontal plane, an upwardlydirected elevating chute arranged at one end thereof, a rectilinearlyreciprocating conveyer in said main chute, fuel advancing bladespivotally carried by said conveyer, a jointed elevating conveyerconnected at one end with the rectilinearly reciprocating conveyer,` andfuel advancing blades pivotally carried by said elevating conveyer.

3. A stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a mainconveyer chute, an elevating chute, a main conveyer in said conveyerchute having a plurality of pivotally suspended advancing blades, anelevating conveyer i-n said elevating chute and also having a pluralityof pivotally suspended advancing blades, said blades being substantiallycoextensive with the width of the chute, and a follower guard bladecarried With each advancing blade in rear thereof.

4. A Stoker including a fuel transfer `mechanism comprising a mamconveyer chute., an elevating chute, pivotally connected advancing andelevating conveyer sections respectively operating in the main conveyerchute and elevating chute, and each of said conveyer sections having aplurality of pivotally-hung fuel advancing units each unit comprising anadvancing blade and a follower guard blade hung on the same pivot.

5. A fuel transfer mechanism for stokers including a main conveyer chutehaving a guidevvay, an upwardly directed elevating chute arranged at oneend of the main chute, and having a guideway, a main advancing conveyerframe slidably mounted in the. guideway in said main chute, fueladvancing members pivotally carried by the main conveyer frame and beingsubstantially coextensive with the interior dimensions of the mainchute, an elevating conveyer frame slidably mounted in the guidevvay ofthe elevating chute, and a plurality of pivotally mounted fuel advancingmembers progressively decreasing in vertical height as they approach theend of the conveyer frame.

6. A stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a conveyerchute and an elevating chute. a main advancing conveyer adapted toreciprocate longitudinally Within said conveyer chute, an elevatingconveyer in said elevating chute, an engine actuated member arranged atthe junction of said main and elevating conveyers and connected v vithsaid elevating conveyer, and a coupling member connecting said engineactuated member and the main advancing conveyer.

7. A Stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a mainconveyer chute, and an elevating conveyer chute, a. main advancingconveyer adapted to reciprocate longitudinally in the main conveyerchute,` an elevating conveyer adapted to reciprocate in said elevatingconveyer chute, an engine actuated cross head connected with theelevating conveyer, and a coupling yoke pivotally connected with s aidcross head, and having means for connecting the elevating conveyer withthe main adva ncing conveyer.

8. A stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a mainconveyer chute, an elevating chute arranged at an angle thereto andgradually diminishing in height toward its discharge end, arectilinearly reciprocating conveyer in said main chute, an elevatingconveyer connected to said rst mentioned conveyer and reciprocating insaid elevating chute, fuel advancing blades pivotally carried by theconveyer operating in the main chute, and other fuel advancing bladescarried b v the conveyer operating in the elevating chute, said latterblades progressively diminishing in vertical height as they approach thedischarge end of said chute.

9. A Stoker including a fuel transfer mechanism comprising a conveyerchute, a main fuel advancing conveyer and an elevating conveyerconnected With said main .conve-yer, double-bladed fuel advancing unitspivotally carried by the conveyer sections, means for preventing thebackward rotation of the fuel advancing units, and means forreciprocating both conveyer sections.

l0. A fuel transfer mechanism for stokers including a main conveyerchute having a guideway, an elevating chute communicating with said mainchute and also having a guidevvay, a main advancing conveyer consistingof frame bars having transversely arranged pivot. bars, and alsosimilarly arranged stop bars and slidable in the guide- Way of the mainconveyer chute, an elevating conveyer comprising frame bars havingjointed connections and slidable in the guidevvay of the said elevatingchute, and also including pivot bars and stop bars, fuel advancing unitshung from said pivot bars, actuating means pivotally connected With theelevating conveyer, and means for coupling the main advancing conveyerto the said actuating means.

l1. A fuel transfer mechanism for stoking apparatus including a conveyerchute and a reciprocating conveyer therein, said conveyer having aframe, a plurality of pivotally suspended advancing blades, and afollower guard blade carried in rear of each advancing blade.

12. A fuel transfer mechanism for stoking apparatus including a conveyerchute and a reciprocating conveyer therein, said conveyer having aframe, a plurality of pivotally suspended advancing blades beingsubstantially coextensive with the interior dimensions of said chute,and a follower guard blade carried in rear of each advancing blade.

13. A fuel transfer mechanism for stoking apparatus including a conveyerchute and a reciprocating conveyer therein, said conveyer having aframe, and a plurality of pivotally suspended fuel advancing unitscarried by said conveyer, each unit comprising a fuel advancing bladeand a follovver guard blade hung on the same pivot and in rear of saidadvancing blade.

14. In a Stoker, in combination, a horizontal reciprocable transferringconveyer having pendent swinging pusher blades, an elevatingreciprocable conveyer flexibly connected with the transferring conveyerand having pendent swinging pusher blades7 and blades, and actuatingmeans attached to the 10 actuating means attached to the said consaidconveyers at their connected ends. veyers at their connected ends. Intestimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my 15. In a stocker, in combination,a horisignature in the presence of two Witnesses. 5 zontal reciprocabletransferring conveyer `1 having pendent swinging pusher blades, a NORMANE' (IEE' jointed elevating Vreciprocable conveyer Witnesses:

flexibly connected with the transferring con- F. lN. PARIS,

veyer and having npendent swinging pusher J. T. HANLON.

Comet of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, m. 0.

